Tour de France 2015: Ivan Basso hopeful of making full recovery after successful cancer surgery

Ivan Basso is hopeful of making a full recovery from testicular cancer after being released from hospital following surgery.

The Italian had to quit the Tour de France after a scan following a crash revealed he had cancer of the left testicle.

Basso was released from Milan's Hospital San Raffaele on 16 July and has since returned to his family home.

The Tinkoff-Saxo rider, 37, said: "I'm good, I'm happy, I have recovered quickly and I'm happy to go back home.

"I will do a series of check-ups in the next few days but everything went well and I'm happy.

"Now we have to wait. There are other exams to do but there is a lot of optimism, and I am the first. I am coming back home happy and relieved."

Basso, the two-time Giro d'Italia winner, was diagnosed with a seminoma, one of the most treatable and curable forms of cancer.

He crashed during stage 5 of the tour and when the pain did not ease after a few days went for scans, which revealed the cancer.